JPH03220043A - Bumper - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the excessive load by collision from being added to a long switch by arranging the long switch in the longitudinal direction of a back plate, and arranging stoppers on the back plate on both sides of the long switch, and also arranging a shock absorbing material in front of the stoppers. CONSTITUTION:For a bumper 1, a long switch 3 is arranged in the longitudinal direction of a back plate 2, and also hard stoppers 4 are arranged on the back plate 2 on both sides in width direction of the long switch 3. Moreover, a press piece 5 consisting of plastic material, or the like is arranged in front of the long switch 3. Furthermore, a shock absorbing material 6 composed of a hard layer 6A and a soft layer 6B is arranged in front of the stoppers 4, and this shock absorbing material 6, said stopper 4, and the back plate 2 are covered respectively with a cover 7. And when the bumper 1 has collided, the load falling on the cover 7 is dispersed by transmitting it from a protective sheet 8 to the shock absorbing material 6. Hereby, the excessive load by collision is prevented from acting on the long switch 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a bumper for a vehicle such as an automatic guided vehicle or a forklift that transports articles in a factory or a warehouse. In particular, it relates to a bumper that can automatically stop a vehicle by sensing when the bumper has come into contact with another object, a human body, or the like.

[Conventional technology]

As conventional bumpers of this type, those shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 are known. The conventional example shown in FIG.
A switch 101 is provided in front of the back plate 100, and switch 1
A suppression plate 102 is provided in front of 01, a sponge 103 is provided in front of this suppression plate 102, and the entire outer cover 10 is provided.
It is covered with 4. In this bumper, pressure is applied from the left-hand direction in the drawing, and when the sponge 103 is contracted, the suppression plate 102 moves to the right-hand direction, turning on the switch 101. In the conventional example shown in FIG. 9, a switch 101 is provided on the front surface of a sponge 103.

[Problem to be solved]

In any of the conventional bumpers, when the bumper collides with an object at high speed, the sponge 103 rapidly shrinks and the back plate 100
The switch 101 is sandwiched between the object and the object, and the switch 101 bears most of the impact force. As a result, the switch 101 will buckle or break.
This may lead to malfunction or damage.

Therefore, the present invention can prevent damage to the switch even if it collides with an object at high speed, and also
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a bumper with reliable 10FF operation and improved durability.

[Failure to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a long switch along the longitudinal direction of a hard back plate, and attaches hard stoppers having a predetermined thickness to the back plate on both sides of the long switch in the width direction. A cushioning material is provided in front of the stopper.

Further, a pusher is provided between the long switch and the cushioning material along the longitudinal direction of the long switch, and protrusions are formed at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction of the pusher.

[Function] When the bumper of the present invention collides with an object at high speed, the cushioning material is compressed toward the back plate, but at this time, hard stoppers of a predetermined thickness are provided on both sides of the long switch in the longitudinal direction. Because of this, the cushioning material at the location where the long switch is installed has increased elasticity compared to the cushioning material at the stopper, and the switch is sandwiched between the back plate and the object, causing the switch to bear most of the impact force. can be avoided. Therefore,
The limit to which the switch can be damaged is increased, and its durability is also improved.

〔Example〕

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 and 2, the bumper 1 is provided with a long switch 3 along the longitudinal direction of the back plate 2, and hard stoppers 4 are installed on both sides of the long switch 3 in the thickness direction. It is attached to the back plate 2 so that it protrudes. In this sectional view, a long switch 3 is arranged in the space between the top and bottom of two stoppers 4. A pusher 5 made of a plastic material such as vinyl chloride is provided on the front surface of the long switch 3. A buffer material 6 is provided on the front surface of the stopper 4, and the buffer material 6. Stopper 4. The back plate 2 is covered with an outer cover 7. In this embodiment, the cushioning material 6 has a hard layer 6 on the front surface.
A and a soft layer 6B on the rear surface. As the cushioning material 6, urethane foam was used. Further, a protective sheet 8 such as a vinyl chloride plate is interposed on the front surface of the front hard layer 6A. Back plate 2 and stopper 4
is made of plywood, steel plate, etc. As shown in FIG. 3, the pusher 5 has flat plate portions 5A and protrusions 5B alternately formed along the longitudinal direction. The pusher 5 is attached in advance to the back surface of the soft layer 6B constituting the cushioning material 6 by adhesive or other means. As the long switch 3, it is preferable to use a plastic thin film with electrode etching as shown in FIG. 4, in which 3A indicates an electrode pattern and 3B indicates a fold. Bend the plastic thin film into a cylindrical shape from these folds 3B, and tape the overlapping ends with adhesive tape 9.
The upper and lower electrodes are connected to each other, and an electrode cord (not shown) is connected to the longitudinal end. Although not shown, a spacer with holes may be interposed between the upper and lower electrodes. In addition, instead of this type of long switch 3, a cord switch using pressurized conductive rubber (for example, JP-A-62-1
24403) can also be used.

4 is bent from the crease 3B to form the upper and lower electrodes, and the protrusion 5B of the pusher 5 is
Because its top surface is shaped like an arc rather than an acute angle,
Even when the long switch 3 is pressed, the long switch 3 is not locally damaged. Moreover, the presence of such a pusher 5 can prevent the sensitivity of the switch from decreasing.

In addition, by making the width of the pusher 5 smaller than the width of the long switch 3 (for example, about 174 mm) and pushing only the center part of the long switch 3 in the width direction, the ends of the long switch 3 in the width direction It is possible to prevent loss of restoring force due to the bent portion of the section, and the reliability of the switching operation can be maintained. Furthermore, by configuring the cushioning material 6 from a hard layer 6A and a soft layer 6B, a switching operation can be performed immediately in the event of a collision with an object, while a large cushioning effect can be obtained once the switching operation has been performed. This is preferable in terms of the sensitivity and durability of the long switch 3. Furthermore, protective sheet 8
is for protecting the cushioning material 6 and dispersing the pressing force, but such a protective sheet 8 may not be provided. Also, cushioning material 6. Stopper 4. The entire back plate 2 may be covered with a thin film of synthetic resin or the like, and the protective sheet 8 and the outer cover 7 may be provided on the outside thereof.

The thickness of the stopper 4 can be changed depending on the properties of the long switch 3 used, so that the long switch 3 will not be destroyed by the pressure applied to the long switch 3 even when the buffer material 6 is compressed to the limit where it will not shrink any further. However, if it is too thick, the sensitivity of the long switch 3 will deteriorate, so the thickness of the stopper 4 and the long switch 3 to be used are selected in consideration of the balance between the two. Note that by devising the shape of the pusher 5, the thickness of the stopper 4 can be made considerably thicker.

The bumper 1 configured in this way is attached as the bumper 1 of an automatic guided vehicle as shown in FIG. 5, for example.

In this embodiment, when the bumper 1 collides with an object or a human body, the load applied to the outer cover 7 is transmitted from the protective sheet 8 to the cushioning material 6 and dispersed. Since the presence of the cushioning material 6 (soft layer 6B) acts as a bridge between the upper and lower stoppers 4, the intermediate portion deforms and approaches the back plate 2. A pusher 5 is attached to the middle part of the cushioning material 6, and the protrusion 5 of this pusher 5
The force dispersed in the buffer material 6 is collected at B and the long switch 3
Since the button is pressed, the long switch 3 is turned on. Furthermore, even if the load increases, the load mainly increases at the center of the long switch 3, but since the protrusion 5B is formed round, the long switch 3 does not break. Even if the load increases dramatically,
The upper and lower stoppers 4 stop this from happening, and the long switch 3 is not subjected to a load that could destroy it.

In the above-mentioned embodiment of the present invention, durability was found to be five times greater than that of a bumper with a switch installed on the front as shown in FIG. Further, embodiments of the present invention-this is 5.
It showed a collision energy limit of more than 1,000 kg-cm.

Furthermore, it has cleared actual vehicle collision records with a vehicle weight of 2,000 kg and a vehicle speed of 40 m/min. Also, the vehicle weight is 390 kg and the vehicle speed is 4.
As a result of 150 collisions with an actual machine at 3m/min, the switch operated normally in all cases.

The front switch installed type shown in FIG. 9 was tested under similar conditions and malfunctioned 46 times.

In the bumper 1 with a flat front shape shown in Figure 15,
As shown in Fig. 6, when a bar-shaped object is collided with, any part of the long switch 3 at the back reaches the on level quickly, so it operates with a low load; however, when it collides with a wall-shaped object, , the load applied to the bumper 1 is distributed, and a load of several tens of kg is required for the long switch 3 to reach the on level. Therefore, if the thrust force of a lightweight automatic guided vehicle is less than this, there is a risk that the guided vehicle will not stop and its wheels will continue to spin. The transport vehicle may collide with a wall-like object if there is an opening/closing door (such as a photoelectric type that opens automatically when the transport vehicle approaches) in the middle of the route, and this door fails to open due to a malfunction. Collisions occur when a transport vehicle runs out of control and travels straight when the track turns in front of a wall. Therefore, it is also possible to make the front surface of the bumper 1 convex as shown in FIG. 7 so that the long switch 3 reaches the on level with a low load even when it collides with a wall-like object. .

〔effect〕

As explained above, the present invention provides an elongated switch along the longitudinal direction of a hard back plate, attaches hard stoppers having a predetermined thickness to the back plate on both sides of the elongated switch in the width direction, and Since a cushioning material is provided on the back of the switch, even if the switch collides with an object at high speed, the switch is directly sandwiched between the back plate and the object, and the switch does not bear most of the impact force. No malfunction or damage will occur.

This bumper has a significantly extended lifespan even after repeated collisions, and also ensures reliable 0N10FF operation. Further, when a pusher having a protrusion is provided on the front surface of the switch, the switch sensitivity can be improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
The figure is a perspective view with a part cut away, Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view along the longitudinal direction of the pusher, Figure 4 is a developed view of the long switch used in Figure 1 before bending, Figure 5 The figure is a perspective view of the invention applied to the bumper of an automatic guided vehicle, Figure 6 is a perspective view of the bumper shown in Figure 5 colliding with a rod-shaped object, and Figure 7 is a bumper with a convex front surface. 8 is a sectional view showing a conventional example, and FIG. 9 is a sectional view also showing a conventional example. 1... Bumper 2... Back plate, 3... Long switch, 4... Stopper 5... Pusher, 6... Cushioning material, 7... Outer cover.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A long switch is provided along the longitudinal direction of a hard back plate, hard stoppers having a predetermined thickness are attached to the back board on both sides of the long switch in the width direction, and a buffer is provided in front of the stopper. A bumper characterized by being provided with a material. 2. Claim characterized in that a pusher is provided between the long switch and the buffer material along the longitudinal direction of the long switch, and protrusions are formed at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction of the pusher. The bumper described in 1.